So I went on a short holiday this weekend (first break for many many many months).  There was a lot of driving up and down roads with some tree cover and my Auto lights were coming on and off more times than I can count.  When going into a slightly shaded area the lights popped on and............

 

1.   The cars I was following must have thought I was a right tit turning my lights on and off about 20 times in a 5 mile stretch

 

2.   Some of the road was narrow (you know - the lovely roads where the while lines in the middle just dissapear and you are supposed to realise instantly that you are about to be side swiped by a large car or white van - what ever happened to the flaming "road narrows" signs - have Devon County Council just given up on them???) 

I am sure on more than one occasion the oncoming car may have thought I was flashing them to go ahead and take up the middle of the road when in fact it was just the crazy Auto lights deciding to turn on at the most dangerous moment.

 

3.   Android Auto maps was going from White to black each time and it was most irritating and distracting encoraging me to look at he "flashing" android auto screen that was having a bout of schizophrenia.

 

Are these Auto lights meant to improve safety - for my journey on that day they did exactly the opposite. 

 

I have tweaked the settings to "Late" but it seems to have made virtually no difference whatsoever 

I have managed to enable the developer options in Android Auto and set the map to "Day" only. I did try "Phone Controlled" in those settings but that seems to still turn the map "black" even if it is before "lighting up time" when the lights come on - it is supposed to not do that so another "fail" from Android Auto for that non working feature.

 

I do really like the idea of auto lights (for tunnels etc.). but to keep coming on and off when driving down a road with a few trees is crazy.  I was wearing sunglasses and on the "darker" stretches it did not even feel in any way dark while wearing my shades.  It's just a bit shoddy.  Also, if the lights come on more than, say, twice in a 5 minute period then the system should realise this and leave them on for, say 15 minutes before taking another reading. that would make much more sense.  Not turing them off and on every 10 seconds, distracting other drivers and actually making the drive less safe.  I really am stuck between a rock and a hard place because I love the idea of them but I can't live with the obvious deficiencies so I guess they will remain off - thus defaeating what would otherwise be a really useful feature if implemented with a bit more care and sense.

 

Cheers,

Paul

  

Edited 16 September, 20205 yr by smipx

It happens sometimes on country roads with trees at certain times of year.

 

The sensor is by the mirror facing outwards through windscreen.  Basically you are driving in and out of shadows, so light level keeps changing.  No difference to driving under lots of bridges or short tunnels.   It is of course an auto tunnel light so is doing what it’s supposed to do.   Doesn’t mean the trees have been properly trimmed though, so maybe blame road maintenance rather than the car

 

My solution is simply to turn the lights off manually if I get a really bad section, then put it back to auto afterwards.

Dead simple really, drive with the Sidelights on if it is not lighting up time / poor visibility, or the DRL's if just front lights are needed for you to be seen.

 

If there is a tunnel you drive into turn on the dipped lights and turn off when not needed.

It worked for decades and now there is so little to driving a car you might as well be doing something manually.

Plenty of other things to do with ya hands when driving with ACC and Auto everything 

I fail to see how it made your drive less safe? If you don’t like them turn them off or just pay more attention to what’s going on in front rather than what the lights are doing?

just because your ok in sunglasses under the trees, an approaching car may be unable to see you and the auto lights actually assisted them? 
just my opinion 👍

What rubbish.  With the main lights off the drl lights are on and bright.  My comment on the sunglasses was merely to demonstrate that the light level was plenty sufficient for normal vision. 

 

The constant turning off and on of the lights and the impact that has on the satnav (causing more distraction than if they dud nothing) and the impact it might have on other drivers seeing a change to the lighting most certainly could be considered distracting - especially so when the light levels are clearly not very low. The constant on/off is also a potential distraction as opposed to using some logic to leave the lights on if they are cycling too frequently. I respectfully disagree with your analysis 👎

And...  I do pay a great deal of attention to what's going on in front of me and to suggest I don't is a bit rude frankly. 

I dislike auto lights for all the reasons you've described.  Similarly I hate auto wipers which just seem to go like bonkers whatever the rainfall level.

 

But there are simple solutions to both fortunately.

 

But then I am very very old fashioned........

19 minutes ago, Phil245 said:

I dislike auto lights for all the reasons you've described.  Similarly I hate auto wipers which just seem to go like bonkers whatever the rainfall level.

 

But there are simple solutions to both fortunately.

 

But then I am very very old fashioned........

Agreed - turn em off.  It gauls me that we have paid for these supposedly "good" features that are a bit poorly executed though.  I have to say however that I do personally quite like the Auto wipers - they do a good job for me - if only the flaming wipers would not leave a smear on the drivers side (right underneath the centre position) on the downwards stroke that is :-(     I'm about to get a set of these blades - https://heynershop.co.uk/wiper-blades/612-hybrid-windscreen-wiper-blades-2618-st.html.  They seem to be "low profile" old fashioned style that are encased in plastic to look neat and designed to give a good and even pressure over the whole screen allegedly.   My 2nd set of brand new bosch wipers are not quite there as they leave the smear described above. The bosch are a load better than the original blades though just not 100%.   I mentioned that here: 

  I found a link to the Heyner's on a VW Golf forum as apparently its a big issue for those cars and someone mentioned that these blades might cure it.  The screen and (both brand new sets of bosch blades) have been cleaned and cleaned with all sorts (including neat IPA / vinegar / Windowlene / 4 or 5 different brands of glass cleaner / etc)..  so I don't think its a wax or residue issue but it is very odd that not everyone is having the problem.  Could have been a bad batch of Bosch blades I suppose??  I only cleaned the brand new blades in case they picked up some contamination from hte screen of course as being brand new they shouldn't need a clean.  Some other foumes also complain about the bosch blades - specifically a smear as descibed above.  Shame as they are so quiet otherwise.

 

 

Edited 17 September, 20205 yr by smipx